Tuesday 26th April: The news deserts expanding over all over the world

April 26, 2022

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A bleak but necessary look at the growing news deserts in Australia - especially as we're already seeing similar patterns emerge elsewhere. The top line of this article from Leon Gettler for The Conversation: Australia’s regional news outlets are dying a not-so-slow death, and Covid-19 has accelerated their decline. The long tail of advertising decline suddenly doesn't look anywhere near long enough.

Worse still, as Gettler points out, some of the mooted mitigation strategies aren't going to help. He notes that the Victorian government is planning on increasing advertising spending and, while that was a welcome boost elsewhere during the pandemic, even in the medium term it won't do much good.

He is also strident about what will be the future of newspapers in Australia: "A better way to help regional media should start with acknowledging print is dead, So is the the old advertising-funded model of news services. The new model is digital only, and user pays – where readers fund the service."

What else needs to be said about the disgusting misogyny of the Mail on Sunday? Maybe only that it is sadly indicative of similar attitudes elsewhere in the privileged corners inhabited by the country's rich boys. Fingers crossed we see some actual changes to how political reporting is done - but I'm not holding my breath.

Ads are intrusive by their very nature, but some are less so than others. Readers expect ads in their glossy magazines, for instance, and host-read podcast ads are arguably the least intrusive of all ad formats. But as this article demonstrates there is still debate over exactly how to do podcast ads effectively.

There goes the neighbourhood. We'll read a lot of speculation about what's to come for the bird app - but for now I'm trying to remember that it's still up in the air.

This week's episode:

Catch up with our mini podcast series talking to the winners of 2020 and 2021's Publisher Podcast Awards. Whether you're thinking of launching your own podcast or want tips to level up your strategy, there's a wealth of knowledge and podcast mastery in these 15 minute episodes.

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